[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Queen of Mystery 2" Episode 3

The case of the cheesy arsonist becomes much more complicated when a copycat is discovered, sending Wan-seung and Seol-ok into a chase without any support from the precinct eager to keep them out of their way. The duo use their existing allies, and they rope in a new one with some promising skills. Meanwhile, Inspector Woo has come across the trail of the mysterious Hyun-soo.

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I am highly entertained by how the writer toys with us for our entertainment. Anyone watching a mystery show is predisposed to jumping at shadows, so we have fake-outs with characters and their true intentions. Given that the main mystery of the drama is Hyun-soo's (Hong Soo-hyun) not-death and the powerful people involved, we are prone to seeing conspiracies. The creators use that to playfully one-up us, while fueling the comedy.

The romance is still adorable, and we finally get to experience Wan-seung's (Kwon Sang-woo) tsundere ways in it, too. What I truly love is that Seol-ok (Choi Kang-hee) is the perceptive one here, while the teasing goes both ways. All too often we have men who tease, sometimes cruelly, women portrayed as naive and unaware. This drama has not yet sacrificed its leads' good qualities for romance, but used them to its advantage instead. As a fan of the series, I would accept nothing less.

Moving over to the standalone case of this episode, "Queen of Mystery 2" dives right into some very challenging topics. We can hopefully get a bigger focus on the persons involved this time around, as one of my complaints for the wedding case was the lack of development on that front. The choice of culprit is rather bold this time. Children can be very cruel when they do not know better, but I am curious to see if this is the case, and to see how his parents will react to this.

The music is still blasting away, but the editing and the comedy are starting to find their balance among the investigation and more story-driven moments. I do enjoy this turn for the comedic, but it inevitably falls flat sometimes, so it is good to see that the creators choose their options more carefully as the drama moves forward. There are so many smart, cheeky, laugh-out-loud moments here, and a lovely cast to carry them.

I am also enjoying some of these new characters a lot. We may have lost forever-puppy Lee Won-keun's Hong Joon-oh, but Officer Kim Moon-gi (Jang Yoo-sang) and his failed spy antics, as well as his computer skills are a nice addition. I also feel so happy seeing Kim Jong-hyun-I here. He is a nice carry-over from the first season. I hope Kyeong-mi (Kim Hyun-sook) returns soon, so we can get the main story ball rolling.

"Queen of Mystery 2" is directed by Choi Yoon-seok-II and Yoo Yeong-eun-I, written by Lee Seong-min-II and features Choi Kang-hee, Kwon Sang-woo, Park Byung-eun and Kim Hyun-sook.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

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